Planes overhead

[Maglev]

A couple of recent observations:

I hear DeHavilland Dash 8's high overhead fairly often, and every time I check, they're going from Vancouver to Portland. Today must be a wild ride, as winds at the surface are gusting to 53 mph.



I heard this jet recently, and it sounded different from what I usually hear (737's climbing out of Vancouver or widebodies at cruising altitude to / from Asia). It was a 777 climbing out of Seattle bound for Dubai:

 

[B757Guy]

I used to drive to and from Portales pretty often as in my spare time during my assignment at Cannon I was working on an MBA at ENMU.

Cannon was a great place for military aircraft watching at the time because we had F-111 fighter bombers ( the plane that could do a little of everything but did nothing really well) and T-33 trainers, but also was a convenient stopping point for air traffic. Besides F-4s we would also see Navy F-16s and the occasional transport. My favorite was a weekly morning flight that used a twin engine recip powered transport I forget its designation, I have always loved the sound of the old recip engines.

Respectfully, the comments about the F-111 are not even remotely accurate. I flew the F-111 for 5 years, including in the 1st Gulf War. It proved an exceptional combat platform. We delivered most of the precision, laser-guided weapons used during the conflict and destroyed more tanks than the A-10.

However, it was incredibly expensive to operate and maintain, which was the primary reason it was retired.

The Navy does not have an F-16, so you probably saw F-14s.

 

[Asher]

A couple of recent observations:

I hear DeHavilland Dash 8's high overhead fairly often, and every time I check, they're going from Vancouver to Portland. Today must be a wild ride, as winds at the surface are gusting to 53 mph.

View attachment 38688

I heard this jet recently, and it sounded different from what I usually hear (737's climbing out of Vancouver or widebodies at cruising altitude to / from Asia). It was a 777 climbing out of Seattle bound for Dubai:

View attachment 38689

I feel your interest wondering what are and where planes are heading. I live just south of LAX where it’s non stop air traffic and other than sometimes wondering where one came from I hardly notice them except when hearing one add power to go around, I guess because of traffic on the ground.
I live just to the east of Hawthorne where Space X originated and manufacture’s a big part of their space equipment. A mystery there is trying to spot Elon Musk or a plane he may be flying in. I hear from sources he has three Gulf stream G 7’s hangered at the field.

I read this “The Dash 8 is a highly maneuverable aircraft, but it can be difficult to control in turbulent weather. Pilots need to be aware of their aircraft's limits and know when to reduce the aircraft's speed or climb to maintain a safe altitude.”

 

[railiner]

Back in the days when I used a Garmin handheld on United flights I used an extension antenna stuck on the window. You could get those and they were convenient.

Indeed it is mostly cell tower issues. If radiation from short range radio like WiFi and Bluetooth were a problem they would not allow those. Heck their entire IFE system now appears to depend on those. Not allowing a pure receiver is complete crock indeed.

Agreed. Even my watch has a satellite gps receiver built in, and you cannot turn it off.

 

[GariYaMoshi]

Back in 2018, we stayed at the Drury Inn that was near the Phoenix airport. Had a room with a balcony that had a view of the planes coming in to land. Used FlightAware to monitor the arrivals as we enjoyed watching the British Airways 747 float in as it landed. Very relaxing.